Most laser micro-machining systems utilize a fast beam steering mechanism that deflects a laser beam onto a scan lens. The scan lens in turn “translates” the input beam angle into lateral beam motion on the work surface as well as focusing the beam on the work piece. One laser micro-machining system is illustrated in FIG. 1.
In the system of FIG. 1, a beam steering mechanism 12 is followed by an f-theta (scan) lens 16 to focus a beam 14 on a scan area 18a of a work piece 18. This topology is suitable for drilling vertically-oriented holes, vias or trenches into an essentially flat work piece. As such, this topology is routinely employed in laser micro-via drilling systems to drill, for example, interconnect vias into multi-layer PCB boards, which are considered essentially flat.